Matrimonial disputes: MEA website to display summons to NRI husbands
New Delhi, June 13: In order to create a stronger deterrent for NRIs who have abandon their wives in India, the Ministry of External Affairs will now display the summons to such men on their official website, an official said on Wednesday.
The decision was taken among other legal solutions for redressing the issues faced by women in NRI marriages at a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM), under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and attended by officials from the External Affairs, Law and Justice and Women and Child Development Ministry.
"We (Women and Child Development Ministry) are grateful to Rajnath Singh, (External Affairs Minister) Sushma Swaraj and (Law and Justice Minister) Ravi Shankar Prasad for enumerating fine details on ways to resolve the issue of NRI marriages," said the Women and Child Development Ministry in a tweet.
"We are working towards putting in place an efficient mechanism that will provide immediate relief to women in troubled NRI marriages," it added.
However, according to sources, the Law Ministry previously did not approve of displaying the summons of NRI marriages on the MEA website and also clashed with the Women and Child Development Ministry over impounding passports and confiscation of the property of those NRI husbands who have been found guilty of deserting their wives and failed to appear in the court.
Last month, the External Affairs Ministry has revoked passports of five NRIs against whom Look-out-Circulars (LoC) were issued by Integrated Nodal Agency (INA) - an inter-ministerial body headed by Women and Child Development Secretary Rakesh Srivastava, formed to deal with matrimonial disputes.
The Women and Child Development Ministry had earlier said that it has received 40 cases related to matrimonial disputes relating to NRIs, of which six were found to be serious and LoC issued.
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi also pitched for issuing orders for registering NRI marriages with 48 hours else the visa or passport of the husbands will not be issued.
According to the ministry, in criminal matters involving NRIs, the LoC can be issued by the investigating agency in cognisable offences when the overseas husband is deliberately evading arrest or not appearing in the trial court despite non-bailable warrants and other coercive measures, or there is a likelihood that he will leave the country to evade trial or arrest.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
